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Chris Mccandless Reflection

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Chris McCandless, a very questionable man with questionable motives, were they reasonable or just plain idiotic? Before we go into those questionable areas, let’s ask ourselves; what drives our determination, what fuels our motivation, and why are we going to accomplish our desires? All these answers are found in one simple question; one that man-kind seems to never realize the answer to, “what is the meaning of life?” We fail to see that, we are the very living definition of it, it’s within ourselves that we give life any meaning at all, and to understand why we give it such meaning. McCandless knew this, the life that he was living, was never his, so he decided to search for his meaning and live his own life as his.
Before and during his journey he read books by men who heavily focused their lives on philosophy, even their stories carried out their messages of their philosophy on life; which I’m sure influenced, if not, inspired Chris to seek out these philosophies first hand to experience himself. Leo Tolstoy rejected his inherited and earned wealth, similar to how Chris decided to leave a very abundant wealthy life that was in the grasp of his fingers. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a very bright man, who could’ve made such a …show more content…

Though I fear he didn’t find his meaning, I believe he lived through it. This story of Mccandless, to me, taught me that a grand life, doesn’t necessarily mean a happy one, at times we must break ties to search for true happiness. It is in that search, is what gives our life “true” meaning, so what does your life mean to you? In the words of Christopher Mccandless, I leave you with this, “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless

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Despite Krakauer 's honorable attempts to portray Chris as someone who is relatable and should be pitied, Chris is portrayed as careless and inconsiderate. Krakauer 's biased diction end up showing Chris as stupid and egotistical. In the beginning Krakauer starts off make Chris a relatable person however after the first few pages Krakauer turns Chris into a superficial rich entitled person who thought he was able to do anything without repercussion. There are many instances where Krakauer reveals Chris as such. Chris may have been innocent in his ideals but that was his mistake, “For most of the sixteen-week ordeal…McCandless more than held his own.

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He made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy,” shows that Shaun believes Chris had no common sense in his doing for leaving society for the wild. I agree with Callarman’s position of thinking “ he had no common sense” and that he was “bright and Ignorant” because Chris thinks he did not have much to offer in his society, ditched all his possessions to take a trip into the Alaskan Wilderness and did not have much common sense or survival skills. Chris McCandless was very courageous for ditching all his possessions to take a trip in the wilderness.

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Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world.” (pg 18) McCandless spent too much time thinking of the world's flaws, it pained him, in turn he chose to live a type of transcendental life. The life that ultimately bid him death, a big part of it at least. The second part that ruined him to this life was his tendency to act out of anger.

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In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, he focuses on one main person, Chris McCandless. Krakauer explains most of Chris's life and even, at times, puts his own input into the pages of this book. Chris McCandless (a.k.a Alexander Supertramp) was from Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. Chris had a father, Walt McCandless, a mother, Billie Mccandless, and a younger sister, Carine. Chris's obsession with nature and high-risk activities was believed to start when "Walt took Billie and his children from both marriages to climb Longs Peak in Colorado."

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He was a bit selfish, narcissistic, and extremely egotistical. Be that as it may he was searching for a sense of purpose just as most people his age often do. While some may go backpacking through Europe or maybe experiment with illegal substances Chris knew the path he needed to take to find purpose was a nomadic one where a new sunset lay on a different horizon each night. Chris tried to convince others that this was the way to find true meaning in life. He wrote to a friend saying, “Once you have become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”

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"I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going to Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on ignorance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy."

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After reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, I wondered to myself why I should even care about Chris McCandless. I can see how some think Chris McCandless was an idiot and he was trying to kill himself. After I dove deeper into this question, I learned that Chris McCandless story teaches us important life lessons. Chris McCandless teaches us to get out of our comfort zone. Ronald Franz was an older man who encountered Chris McCandless and gave him a ride from Salton City California to Grand Junction Colorado In Chris’s last letter to Ronald Franz, he says “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation…

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Chris McCandless may first be described as a rebel and his inclination to abstain from the family he was brought up with. Krakauer says that he 'believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting, and inherently evil '. Despite that, Chris always liked money. Chris was also a very independent person who had a strong relationship with nature. Chris was also the kind of kid to always get good grades, without even trying to.

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Chris McCandless: A Reckless Idiot Chris McCandless was a reckless idiot and there is no denying that basic truth. Chris McCandless was a man born into a middle class family. Chris had parents that loved him, a roof over his head, and food to eat. Despite all those riches he had, he threw them away. Chris was a very selfish man.

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Even some people thought that McCandless was mentally unstable that was not the case. To begin with, Chris McCandless’ self-reliance embodies him because of his need to live off nature. On his journey into the wild, Chris relied on himself and nature to survive. He was disciplined when it came to what he needed, and didn’t have to communicate with others all the time. In the

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Chris McCandless was in his early 20’s, he was the kind of that guy that wanted to learn and experience life without all of the material things. He wanted to be independent from his parents and friends so Chris did something that would be insane for most of us humans but to him, it wasn’t. He went into the wild of Alaska for months, in fact, McCandless even thought he could make it out alive at the end of his journey. As a matter of fact, he was known as being a risk taker and enjoyed being out and about in the nature side of the world. Many would believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild to purposely kill himself; however, I myself believe that McCandless did not do it purposely.

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He did what anyone would do if they had their own beliefs and dreams. McCandless was one special person who had very different views on the world with society. No matter how many people doubt his actions and felt he was wrong, they can't know the true reason for him doing so unless they were in his shoes. Although he did explain some of the reasons for doing so no one knew what was the exact point that made him have a belief that society was not needed. The courageous man Chris McCandless died knowing he had done what he believed and never gave up on

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So does Chris McCandless really believed that he was finding the true happiness of the life? However, his belief was so strong that he was willing to encourage an eighty year old man to live the same lifestyle as he. One Thursday in mid-January 1992, Ron Franz an accomplished leather worker, stopped the car to give Chris McCandless a ride. Ron Franz was eighty-one year at the time, but his age didn't stop him from forming strong friendship with Chris McCandless. Ron Franz appreciated McCandless so much, therefore he thought that it was a huge waste for McCandless to live his life as a

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Everyone sets their goals at different expectations than others which is why you typically don’t go for the same goal as other people. The adventure that McCandless went on was dangerous, but it fit his expectation to be independent and to find where he belongs. McCandless valued self-reliance ,he needed to be his own person, with his own vision and way of thinking so that others wouldnt influence him along the way. He recognized that the only way for him to find his own truth would to be self-centered and focus on his own being first, without others clouding his sense of

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If he were living normally, he would most likely become bored and depressed. In a letter to his brother, McCandless writes, “I know that I could not bear the routine and humdrum of the life that you are forced to lead. I don’t think I could ever settle down. I have known too much of the depths of live already, and I would prefer anything to an anticlimax” (Krakauer 87). This means that McCandless would rather live an exciting life and would hate to live a normal one.

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